Alice Walker, Author Of “The Color Purple,” To Speak At UB

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Poet, essayist and author Alice Walker, best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book "The Color Purple," will speak at 8 p.m. April 26 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus.

The lecture is the last of the academic year in the 13th annual Distinguished Speakers Series, presented by UB and the Don Davis Auto World Lectureship Fund. The series is sponsored by the Student Association. Walker's lecture is sponsored by the UB College of Arts and Sciences.

Walker has written two collections of short stories, four volumes of poetry, two collections of essays, two children's books, a biography of Langston Hughes and five novels.

Her more recent works include "Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A Writer's Activism," which reveals her commitment to activism in its cultural, spiritual and political forms, and "By the Light of My Father's Smile," which synthesizes ancient and modern wisdoms.

Walker's work has appeared in such magazines as Ms., The New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Mother Jones, The Black Scholar, Essence and Freedomways.

The eighth child born to tenant-farmer parents in Eatonton, Ga., Walker earned a bachelor's degree from Sarah Lawrence College and now lives in Northern California.

Tickets for the lecture are available through the Center for the Arts box office at 645-2787, or through TicketMaster locations and at 852-5000. Series affiliate sponsors are the University Bookstore and the Western New York Independent Living Project. Contributing series sponsors are Makin' Copies, the UB Alumni Association, the Buffalo Niagara/Marriott, the Amherst Chamber of Commerce, the Center for the Arts, WBFO-FM 88.7 and CITIBANK.